It's been a week and i'd like to share another piece of writing with those of you still reading. I'm in the process of writing another short story, should be done by Thursday. This was a writing exercise that anyone can do. Basically, write how to kill a dog. This is what I wrote for better or worse.

I remember jaywalking every day on my way to school for at least a year. I remember cheating on my math test in 6th grade and forgetting to say my prayers. Though nothing I could imagine I have done could be deserving of the vile hateful devil himself manifested on 4 legs. I have a grandma, two puppies and my first girl outside. Our ranch was big enough and it's a lot cheaper to take care of family yourself. Me, Cliff and baby-doll buried them all with our bare hands. We live intimately and I believe everyone should be taken to the ground with care after they're gone the same.

I also believe your dead ones should remain buried, and not slowly picked apart by a goddamn dog.

We lost my daughter, Zoey, last week to that bug that's been going around. We took her out back and buried her with ash, her favorite teddy bear. One week, and I didn't sleep a wink. Some random morning I wanted to talk to Zoey. Don't know what I was thinking, probably just a sleep deprived delirium. I walked outside to the spot I dug myself when I saw Zoey's body being dragged outside like a ragdoll attached to a pissed off bull.

It could've been an elephant for all I care and in a blind rage I ran for it. Turned out to be some dog, I dunno happened so long ago. The cuts on my wrists hadn't healed yet, I remember that. This dog so brilliantly white with clean pure fur and a mouth full of blood, I snapped. He didn't run.

I wanted to bury him just as intimately as I did Zoey. I hugged the dog tighter and tighter while its screams filled my ears with music. I wanted him close while I felt his heart stop. While my girls blood was vomited out like a gush of red kool-aid and sinew.

I felt his ribs snap. I felt his last cough for air in which he spit out a lung ,or hell, maybe part of Zoey. I hugged that dog to death. Hugged him like I wanted to hug Zoey. I didn't start to cry until I ripped it's jaw from it's face and saw part of Zoey's shirt still on it's teeth.

Here is a small Sunday treat. Hopefully it tastes nicely for you. Below is a short story I wrote a month or so back that I'd like to share. It may be some time before the next issue of the comic comes out and it's important for me, for us, to let you know we haven't died and we appreciate your viewing of the blog. Feedback would be appreciated and I hope you enjoy the story as much as I love bad grammar and punctuation. This is a first draft and I don't know if or when I'll ever change it. Enjoy.

Edit: I have to apologize in advance for the story as it appears on the blog. A couple breaks happen that isn't intended, oh well. Not quite sure about blogger and I don't have the time to edit code because of my video game addiction.

He cut her off mid sentence and gestured towards the ocean, and in a single fluid motion

they clasped hands while burying their feet deep beneath the sand in an almost ritualistic fashion.

Seven years have passed, and he still couldn't get enough of the smoothness of her touch and the

calmness of the sea, he sort of had no choice. There are moments in even the most visually depraved

parts of the universe where beauty is heard and seldom seen, but almost always taken for granted.

Unfortunately for this planet it's beauty is wasted on beings with eyes set to themselves, or the stars,

but never to the very ground that they stand on.

“This is the last time or, should I say the last time again, right?” She asked, head in the clouds

taking in the ocean breeze and odors. “I appreciate you accepting my invitation, but no this isn't the last time and I fear tomorrow wont be either. I suppose the real question would be, will that change

anything?” The tone couldn't have been more dry, but anything less wouldn't be Nathan and anything

more would be too human. “You always sound so alien when you want to avoid my questions, so

thanks for your non answer-answer mister mystery.” He wanted to remark at the child like speech from his old friend, however his thoughts where broken by a sharp pain near his ankle. “OW!” Nathan

exclaimed, as he held his left foot tightly hoping around barefoot on the beach. “Oh, don't be such a

baby it's just a bottle you nunce and not only that, it didn't even come near you, it hit me!” Exclaimed

Lucy with very little concern to the matter. Nathan gave her a wild expression of curiosity and

bewilderment and couldn't decide if he wanted to continue jumping in pain or give her a thrashing for

being so rude. “Do you not see that gigantic prickly instrument of doom where my feet used to be?”

And Nathan walks towards the object of his physical pain, picks it up and holds it up to Lucy's nose so that she could take it all in. “Stop being so dramatic and take a look at this! It looks like a bottle but I

think there is something in it.” Lucy said casually dismissing Nathan's pain and the prickly instrument

that brings death to feet. He decided to brood a bit longer because that's what he did, he was more

concerned with his foot than Lucy was with her bottle and there was nothing wrong with that, he

thought. “ Of course it's a bottle, what else would it be? Actually I hate you right now because I'm

obviously in pain and you're more concerned with garbage on the beach. I could be dying for all you

know, what if it was one of those poisonous prickly feet death things and what if.... Nathan went on and Lucy went on ignoring him as per the usual, but not entirely. Her gaze was transfixed on her new found treasure. Jewels. It had to be she thought, I mean they were on a beach anyway and the only thing to be found in such a place was treasure and tiny rocks. She couldn't help but get the odd feeling like she was being watched from within the bottle by someone else, but that was nonsense.

Nathan just looked at her almost hypnotized gaze and before she even realized it she had begun

to open the bottle. He thought it was the natural thing to do for a romantic woman like Lucy. There

could be a long lost love note inside from a couple whose romance flourished and lasted a lifetime, or

maybe even money or tiny diamonds and other trivial things she would like. He thought on and as his

thoughts escaped him and ushered him into his own trance like state when suddenly Lucy shouted, “

What the hell is this!”. In the way a child would open a birthday card with no money or a wife would

find the wrong shade of lipstick her husband's collar. Nathan decided perhaps it was OK to give into his emotions and maybe ask Lucy out. Leaps are not something easily taken and if the fall doesn't kill you, the answer would. It was time to be rid of that attitude. Time to change and, maybe it was even time to humor Lucy and find out why she's so fascinated with trash. So Nathan took the bottle looked inside and thought someone was looking back at him as well, but that was nonsense.

And as Lucy opened her new treasure to find someone's garbage, and as Nathan starred at Lucy wondering if he could ever see beauty in something so ordinary they way she did. Across the planet a boy is starring out into an ocean with wonder and puzzlement and across from him a girl is

looking into his eyes the way Nathan is to Lucy. And across from them a mom is yelling at her

daughter for a less than ideal report card while the father watches his hard earned dollars turn into

minutes on a phone bill. Further away in the world from all of this someone is contemplating buying a

yacht or, keeping the money invested where they know it'll be safe, or not.

And life as everyone would see it will come together in a bottle, and be ripped apart by the drunkenness of love and curiosity. Together the peoples across the world open the bottle hoping to find a note from a person who had love and wanted to share their romance like in the movies or perhaps a treasure map leading them to riches and in turn to expensive things and in turn happiness. And somewhere far off someone is starring back at them through a bottle of their own.

The bottle contained a note from a place that doesn't exist in a language no one could read or

make sound of on material that felt like a tangible dream, but that is nonsense. Gifts come in different

forms and are often followed by a desire of something to be reciprocated, never are they given without such demands. People are often given gifts without viewing them as such because gifts are beautiful

and as the Earth can tell you, beauty is often over looked. Gifts have their price.

It wasn't until she could no longer feel the sand beneath her feet that Lucy figured out they

she was no longer at the beach, at least not the same one she had been. “ I...I feel like I'm going to

die, I told you that stupid prickly thing would kill me! “ Nathan's shrill complaining voice was so

incredibly comforting to hear she thought, the beach could change but Nathan never would. She

decided this time to walk over and help him up, she put two fingers to his neck to check his pulse not

that she thought anything was wrong, because she knew it made him feel better. As she leaned over

to a Nathan lying on the ground in agony she looked into his eyes and saw them fill with black, there

was no longer color, and as their eyes met Nathan saw the same in hers. They both turned to see their

beautiful calm blue ocean replaced with an emerald green and black color you might see at the bottom

of a dirty dish pan. Their blue sky replaced with a reflection of the dark ocean in this place where

just moments ago they had been sharing a moment together with each other and their beach. And

across the world that person is no longer wondering if they should buy a yacht or keep their money

in stocks because who would want to sail an ocean of black? And across from him a father is no

longer in agony of seeing his money turn to minutes of a phone bill but, just because the world has

changed in the blink of an eye doesn't mean the daughters grades should get away from the mother.

And across from them the young couple on the beach didn't flinch at the change of the world, for they

had hoped for it all along. A world for them to shape, a world their mothers and fathers hadn't

polluted and ruined with buildings and stocks and yachts and grades. A world where they could

explore new things with each other and with this world and live the way people do in movies and

some stories.

Their entire world changed to a dark place where once a blue ocean was there to be looked

at and forgotten, now stood a dark violent ocean filled with the unknown. At the same time across

this new world one thought gripped the people nearly at the same time, there is beauty in darkness.

It is often feared but it's simply the other side of the coin, you cannot have light and matter without

dark. There is beauty in darkness and there was nothing wrong with that.

And Nathan saw the darkness in her eyes and the green and black color of the ocean and knew

this was his moment to take charge. The Lucy he knew for 7 years, the Lucy he would take to the ocean to share the sounds and smells with, to keep to himself for minutes, hours if he was lucky, never

looked so beautiful. He wanted to tell her that it was indeed the last time as she asked earlier, the last

time he would feel fear. Nathan stood at the edge of this dark beach and looked into the sky of this new world and was struck with a sudden vigor he hadn't felt since the first time he looked at the ocean. He once again felt curiosity, bewilderment, youth and remembered what it was like to be a real

human. He chuckled at Lucy's earlier remark of him acting alien and it took a dark ocean to show him

the reflection he missed in the clearest of blue water. He stood thinking and looked to Lucy who

seemed to be an entire world away. He chuckled at the as well, for obvious reasons.

It was the way a child would respond if they got sent to a different school or the way someone

would transfer to a different company location. It was the way humans behaved once they had drained

their natural and social resources and wished they could just find a new place and start over but gifts

have their price. In this new place anything was possible and he decided to take advantage of this new

vigor and to the gifts he had decided to no longer ignore. He walked up to her and embraced her the

way he had always wanted, never wanting to let go. Lucy didn't fight his sudden grasp but didn't

hesitate to ask, “Why did it take the world to change for you to notice me?” Lucy's soft voice was

the most comforting thing Nathan could have asked for and at that moment he thought, the world

could change, but Lucy never would.

And in a far off place that someone who was once starring back at Lucy and Nathan, and at

the daughter with bad grades and at the young couple on the beach, writes their story down not

on paper but on dreams. And once their dreams are done, he will put them in a bottle, top it with

a cork and send them sailing to be taken by the tides of the universe.

There really is no excuse for the lack of updating on the blog. Not homework, not video games and definitely not comics. While we do have (tentatively) two comics (perhaps less) planned this year I as the author, Johnnie, have the easy job of coming up with lies to tell you guys. I mean fiction....stories and such. It's fiction, not lies dammit!!!! Anyway it's a dismal Tuesday and I thought of something on my way from a poetry class (ugh, i know) :

When I was a kid I was told there would be a raptureand that one day god would take us all up in the blink of an eye.I remember thinking, please god don't take me before the end of power rangers.

Then I got older and I thought, please god, don't take mebefore I get laid. I don't wanna die a virgin.

Then I got older again and now I think.I hope I don't die before I can wipe my hard drive.

Happyjack Comics is an independent, creator owned book. Anyone can create, publish and spread that creative seed throughout the nation in a number of ways, be it on-line or from the back of their mom's Honda odyssey . With that said I'd like to share with you a video from the creator of The Goon :

It's no doubt that creator owned books and independent creative individuals with their hearts and stars set towards the comics industry has a tough time ahead.

Now I post this to create a better understanding of comics as a whole to those of you who read, care and support all comics including ours. NOT to be doom and gloom and while I reserve the right to do that every hour of the waking day if i feel like it, I'm very optimistic about our future in comics.

With all that said, I should get to revising the script for the first issue of Winterbourne for the first time in 3 years.

Ok, so initially we started this blog as a way to document the process up until the comic con. You know the process of creating something, displaying it to the public and releasing it. The con was on the 15th and while it was a big success, both for us and for the organizer who paid 60k to get it all started. But now that it is over I see that there is less activity here and there are reasons for that which I'd like to share if you care to listen.

1st reason: The happyjack creative process involves a lot of outside substances and the only time the owners ever really get together is for bar trivia night.

That is what it is. No big deal.

2nd reason: We hate people. Johnnie hates animals.

So i get that there are people who hate other people but typically, those people have pets or at least pictures of funny Internet cats to fall back on. Eric has a bunch of cute little dogs that bring him love, piss and shit and now that i think about it, love is usually followed by shit and piss. Anyway Johnnie has beer. Johnnie is going to stop drinking beer (for as long as possible) to see what happens.

Here is what happens when you mix dogs and alcohol together, at least in my head.

Actually the plan is to get the body of a god. I'm going to look like i was carved by Zeus and shit lightening. So throughout February if you follow the blog via the Facebook or twitter posts, look for more to read in your down time. It will finally be the words of a sober god. Every other day of the week I'm a drunken masterpiece.

I started off this post with, "initially we started this blog to document the process", now it becomes something like a blog.

I gotta admit I forget about this blog sometimes mostly because when I'm not writing for the comic, I'm doing homework. So blame school for the neglect of this blog lol.
Thank you all for still visiting. We're hard at work on the 1st full blown issue of 'Winterbourne' that you saw in the preview book of the comic (if you picked it up if not perhaps we'll post up the pages in the future).
Some things of note, just doing a google search of albuquerque comic con or con photos there are lots of youtube videos and pictures from the event. And it's like we're JUST OUT OF THE SHOT on each photo. Makes me a very sad panda. We're comics creators and not exactly movie stars but there are a few awesome shots of Eric and Myself over at my friends photoblog. Check it out @ http://www.analogousaesthetic.com/?p=909 .

Anyway, this is just a HI HOW YA DOIN? Entry before I start on homework/starcraft II.